


I'll Take What I Can Get

by TheSocialExperiment



Category: Night Vale - Fandom, Nightvale - Fandom, Welcome to Night Vale, Welcome to Nightvale, wtnv
Genre: Blood, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-23
Updated: 2014-04-23
Packaged: 2018-01-20 13:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1512986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSocialExperiment/pseuds/TheSocialExperiment
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>OCD!Carlos and NonHuman!Cecil. First date at Carlos' house. One shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Take What I Can Get

Carlos straightened his tie for the 8th time that night. It wasn’t perfect yet. The night needed to be perfect. It HAD to be perfect. 

He checked the stove. The already prepared meal sat waiting, kept warm by low heat. 

The plates were aligned perfectly with each other. The glasses were reflected across the invisible line that split the table in half. The silverware were lined up with a precision that a mathematician couldn’t rival. 

His OCD told him to fix the tie again. He did. 

The clock flashed 6:49. 11 minutes till /he/ was supposed to be here. An electronic chime sounded in Carlos’ pocket. Cecil. 

The text read, “I’m running a little late! D: I’ll be there as soon as possible, kay? :) :) :)” 

Carlos smiled at the screen. Cecil was fond of using too many smiley faces. It was annoying, but endearing in a strange way. 

He reached up and fixed his tie again, then sent to check on the food. It hasn’t moved. The plates and the glasses and the silverware were still lined up perfectly. The night had to be perfect. 

Carlos got the urge to fix his tie again, but instead picked up one of his many pill bottles from the cabinet. He swallowed two of them dry. 

The urge to fix his tie was gone, but he did it anyway. The night had to be perfect. 

The clock flashed 7:03. He was 3 minutes late, but Carlos already knew that. "He'll be here as soon as he can," he assured himself.

The scientist sighed. He wouldn’t come. His past lovers, they abandoned him when they saw the pills, rows and rows of them in the cabinet. They used him and they left. Carlos looked at himself in the hall mirror. 

He was well built, especially for scientist. Years of training in the gym at the urging of his therapist. She said it would be a positive way to exhaust his nervous energy so he wouldn’t have to turn the light on and off 21 times before going to bed, or check to make sure the door was locked 14 times, or tossing and turning and tossing and turning 5 times then 7 times then 9 times. 

Small scars marred his body from panic attacks. Self inflicted, but he never remembered hurting himself. He only remembered loud pounding in his ears. 

The clock flashed 7:17. A knock on the door echoed through the house. Carlos breathed it. Cecil. It had to be. He fixed his tie before opening the door. 

Cecil stood there, a dorky grin on his face and a bouquet of purple roses in his hands. He was wearing a purple and black striped blazer, matching solid purple pants, and a black undershirt. His bow tie had the periodic table on it. 

Carlos welcomed him in. “I love your bow tie,” he said, reaching out to touch it. 

Cecil beamed. “I picked it out just for you!” 

The clock flashed 7:19. Cecil took his shoes off. His socks were covered in purple eyes. They were a common sight in Night Vale. 

“Can I take your jacket?” Cecil removed it and handed it to Carlos. The scientist hung it up on the coat hanger. 

“It smells wonderful in here. What did you make?” Cecil asked. 

“Pot roast, rosemary potatoes, broccoli and cheese casserole, and one of my coworkers from the lab brought us German chocolate cupcakes.” 

Cecil smiled, “That’s very sweet of her. Give her my thanks.” 

“You may want to try them first. She’s experimenting with sweets,” Carlos laughed, deep and wonderful. 

“Neat!” 

They both laughed. It had become their inside joke since that broadcast aired and never failed to crack the other up. 

The clock flashed 7:23. 

“Sit down, Cecil. I’ll bring dinner in here,” Carlos said as he put his black oven mitts on. Cecil obeyed. 

“Do you mind putting on some music? My iPod is on the counter, or you can use yours,” Carlos called out. Cecil grabbed the iPod off the counter and plugged it in the speakers. Soft piano compositions drifted out. Cecil left it on that. 

Carlos’ hands were shaking. He grabbed a different pill bottle from the cabinet and took a small white pill. The night had to be perfect. 

Dinner was perfect. Cecil and Carlos laughed over small talk and Cecil complimented everything he ate. 

Carlos liked Cecil. Quite a lot, actually. The way his mouth curved when he smiled, the way he blushed when Carlos met his gaze, his third eye that didn't seem to be watching anything but seeing everything. Cecil was perfect. 

When Carlos got up to clear the dishes, Cecil grabbed his hand and kissed it. 

"Dinner was wonderful. Thank you, Carlos."

Carlos shivered, loving the way Cecil said his name, with his voice dropping low. 

The clock flashed 8:24. Just then, he realized that it was pointless looking at the clock, since clocks in Night Vale were not real. 

Some time later, Cecil came up behind him in the kitchen and wrapped his arms around the scientist. Carlos dropped the glass in his hand, and it shattered. 

He apologized quickly as he reached in the sink to clean up the glass. A shard sliced his index finger open. 

Cecil gasped sharply and stepped back. Carlos looked back. Cecil had his hand over his mouth, all three eyes completely dilated. 

"Ce...cil?" 

Cecil took another step back. He lifted his hand from his mouth. Both of his mouths were curled up with teeth bared. The one in his throat had pointed teeth. His hand stretched out, shaking. 

"Cecil, shhhh, it's okay Cecil," Carlos murmured as he took a step towards the trembling blonde. 

Cecil hissed out of both mouths, his eyes narrowing. 

Carlos' hand was now completely covered in blood. His thumb hurt in throbbing cycles. He put his hand out, now scientifically curious. Cecil watched his every move, the third eye tracking his bloody hand. 

As he got closer, Cecil seemed to get more and more agitated. 

"It's okay Cecil, I trust you."

Cecil stopped hissing, all eyes trained on Carlos. His second mouth opened wider, allowing a spiked tongue to uncurl. 

Carlos was close enough to Cecil to almost touch him. He stopped there. 

The radio show host took the final steps forward and gently picked up Carlos' hand. He carefully licked the wound. Carlos flinched, expecting pain. 

Instead, the wound closed up as it touched the spines. His tongue was feathery. Tiny tubes along the side suctioned up the blood dotting Carlos' skin. 

The tongue curled back into the second mouth, and it sealed up again, a line at Cecil's throat once more. His third eye narrowed into a slit once more, watching nothing but seeing everything. 

"Carlos...why? Why weren't you scared?" he gasped, his other two eyes returning to normal dilation.. 

"Science?"

Cecil and Carlos both reached up and fixed their tie at the same time. 

The clock flashed 8:51. They both looked up at the same time. They still had time, all of the time in the works. 

Cecil leaned forward and kissed Carlos, reaching up and tangling his hands in the scientist's perfect hair. 

They stumbled together to the bedroom, hastily discarding items of clothing. The pair stopped when Cecil fell back on the bed. Carlos leaned over him, capturing the man's mouth with his own once again. The rest was a blur in both of their minds. 

 

Carlos woke up at dawn. He always woke with the sun. The clock said it was 6:46. His lab coat was folded neatly, along with the rest of his clothes, beside him. Cecil wasn't there. 

The scientist got up and quickly looked around for a note. Nothing. Like all of his past lovers, they left without a trace, never replied to his messages. 

Carlos showered, got dressed, and fixed his unruly hair. 

It was 7:01. 

He grabbed his lab coat off of the neat pile. Something fell out of the pocket as he shook it out. A bow tie with the periodic table on it. It had a small piece of paper near to where it fell. 

Carlos unfolded the note. It had an eye drawn on it, the symbol of Night Vale, but instead of a moon in the center, it had a heart.


End file.
